Starting at the Nascent Soul stage, a rogue cultivator is incredibly poor.

Behind the boulder, deep in the shadows.

Lu Zhou gripped the necklace around his neck tightly, his knuckles turning white, his eyes scanning his surroundings warily.

The demonic energy spread like a thin mist, shrouding the mountain in an eerie darkness. Occasionally, the booming sound of magic explosions could be heard in the distance, only to quickly fall silent again.

"Master," he lowered his voice, "are we just going to hide here forever? Why don't we go to the secret chamber halfway up the mountain and retrieve the Demon Dragon Flower to quickly help you recover your strength?"

The black necklace swayed slightly in the air, as if someone were shaking their head.

"No rush."

The aged voice was calm and composed.

"My secret chamber is extremely well hidden. With my mastery of formations, even after a thousand years and with the restrictions worn down, it is by no means something an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator could find. Even if a Golden Core cultivator were to find it by chance, without Nascent Soul combat power, it would be extremely difficult to open it, hahaha."

"If anyone manages to discover my secret chamber from the outside, I'd rather just kill myself."

Lu Zhou nodded, cautiously poking his head out to look towards the mountainside. He only glanced at it before quickly pulling back in.

"I will recover some of my strength here."

The voice from the necklace continued.

"It will take anywhere from half a month to two months. Absorb as much demonic energy as possible, and you'll have a better chance of obtaining the Demon Dragon Flower. With me here, and your Golden Core cultivation, you'll be the strongest person below the Nascent Soul stage. Even if an ordinary early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator wanted to kill you, with our methods, escaping wouldn't be difficult."

The aged voice chuckled softly, tinged with a hint of arrogance.

"Master is right."

Lu Zhou took a deep breath, leaned against the cold rock wall, and slowly sat down.

Strands of demonic energy seeped into the necklace, and a faint black light swirled around it.

Another location, deep within a cave.

Qingyouzi's footsteps were extremely light, almost silent as she stepped on the slippery rock. The sound of dripping water ahead grew clearer, echoing in the empty cave with a strange rhythm.

After turning a corner, the view suddenly opened up before me.

A circular underground stream encircles the central stone island; the water is pitch black and gleams with an eerie, magical light. The island is small, with a large rectangular rock in the center, its surface covered with natural patterns.

Above the stone island, the demonic energy was most concentrated, with almost solidified black mist churning and surging, exuding an aura of decay and antiquity.

But amidst this dense demonic aura, a faint light stubbornly flickered.

Qingyouzi probed with his divine sense.

It was a flower.

The flower stem coils like a dragon, the four leaves resemble dragon claws, the petals are half-open, exhaling pure demonic energy, and the eerie light emanates from them.

He quickly took out the jade slip and compared it with the illustration.

"The Demon Dragon Flower... I obtained it so easily."

"Cultivation, luck, shrewdness, and methods—all are indispensable!"

A glint flashed in Qingyouzi's eyes.

"I am truly blessed to have encountered such a spiritual creature here."

His gaze swept over the stone island.

There should have been several Demon Dragon Flowers on the island, but now only this one remains, thriving while the rest have withered and turned to ash. Because of this, the only surviving one has absorbed all the demonic energy from the earth's veins and is growing exceptionally vigorously.

But a sudden sense of unease crept into his mind.

His divine sense swept across the surrounding rock walls, but it was like a mud ox sinking into the sea; he couldn't detect anything outside. This cave... seemed to be completely isolated by some kind of formation.

"A concealment formation?" Qing Youzi raised an eyebrow, then his eyes lit up. "If we could obtain this formation, wouldn't it provide an extra layer of protection for our cave dwelling in the future?"

Without further hesitation, he followed the method recorded on the jade slip, first using his magic power to wrap a ball of demonic energy to form a protective barrier, before carefully picking the Demon Dragon Flower by the roots.

The root system is intact, and the demonic energy has not dissipated.

Qingyouzi leaped onto the stone island, sat cross-legged on the central boulder, and looked up at the churning demonic energy above.

"Such pure demonic energy, and so hidden and quiet, makes this the perfect place to refine the Demonic Dragon Flower into the Demonic Dragon Shield."

His eyes narrowed, and he made a decision.

The Demon Zhou Mountain is treacherous and unpredictable, and quite a few Nascent Soul cultivators have ventured into this place. Having an extra trump card for survival increases one's chances of survival.

With a flick of his sleeve, the Demon Dragon Flower and the Demon Dragon Shield flew into the demonic energy above his head.

Qingyouzi formed hand seals, channeling his magical power into the demonic energy, guiding it to slowly envelop and merge the two.

The Demon Dragon Flower gradually melted in the demonic energy, turning into black sap that seeped into the dragon patterns on the surface of the Demon Dragon Shield.

The shield began to tremble, and a faint dragon's roar could be heard.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Inside the cave, Qing Youzi's face was slightly pale, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He tossed an empty jade bottle aside; the thousand-year-old spiritual milk that had once been contained in the bottle had been exhausted in the past half month.

His magical power was depleted twice, and he relied entirely on spiritual milk to replenish it.

But hard work pays off.

The demonic energy above his head slowly dissipated, and a completely black shield with lifelike dragon patterns slowly descended and hovered in front of him. The shield surface shimmered with an eerie light, and the dragon's eyes were faintly crimson; its oppressive aura was far stronger than before.

"It's done."

Qingyouzi reached out and grasped the shield handle, channeling his magic power into it.

The Demon Dragon Shield trembled and instantly split apart.

One, two, four... a total of eighty-one shields appeared in mid-air, layer upon layer, protecting him completely! The demonic energy between the shields connected, forming a unified defensive formation.

"My darling!"

A look of joy flashed in Qingyouzi's eyes.

With this shield protecting him, he was confident he could withstand even the full force of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

He got up and stretched his limbs. After half a month of seclusion, it was time to go out and see the world.

His gaze swept across the cave walls, and he had already located the weakest point. Although it was a weak point, it would still be difficult to break through without Nascent Soul level magical power.

Qing Youzi raised his hand, and the Ancient Azure Demon Flame surged from his palm, condensing behind him into a five-zhang-long azure dragon of fire. The azure dragon raised its head and roared, though silent, an invisible pressure spread out.

"go!"

The fiery azure dragon charged out and slammed hard into a certain spot on the rock wall!

"boom--!!!"

The rocks shattered, revealing a gap. Demonic energy from the outside surged in, mingling with the demonic energy inside the cave.

Qingyouzi raised his protective spiritual light, put his black bamboo hat back on, and took a step out of the gap.

The outside world came into view.

The sky was pitch black, dark clouds hung low, obscuring the sun and moon. The earth was rugged and rocky, the vegetation withered, only demonic energy flowed like mist. The spiritual energy in the air was thin and murky.

"It seems that the spiritual energy of the entire Demon Zhou Mountain is thin, so we must be careful with our magical power."

He glanced back at the opening in the cave, lost in thought.

"This cave seems to have been created by human hands, and the hidden formation is even more mysterious... Even my Nascent Soul level divine sense cannot penetrate it. If I can take it away, I can set it up around my cave in the future, and even Nascent Soul cultivators will have difficulty detecting it."

With this in mind, he turned back to Stone Island.

The island was empty, except for the dragon flowers that had already been picked, and only that rectangular boulder remained.

He had previously sensed the hidden restrictions flowing within the boulder, and now, as he carefully examined it, he placed his hands on the stone surface, allowing his magical power to seep in like a stream.

Time slips away bit by bit.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

"Found it!"

The magic power flowed along a specific trajectory, and the boulder trembled slightly, beginning to slowly rotate counterclockwise.

As it rotates, six thin threads formed from magical energy extend from the bottom of the boulder, probing into the surrounding rock walls like tendrils.

A faint mechanical sound came from deep within the rock wall.

Six palm-sized black array flags were slowly pulled out from the rock wall, their surfaces shimmering with magical patterns.

Qingyouzi reached out and grabbed, and six array flags flew into his palm. At the same time, the rectangular boulder rose from the ground, rapidly shrinking and transforming into a black stone seal.

"Just as I thought."

He put the battle flag and the stone seal into his storage bag, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Another layer of concealment. This Demon Zhou Mountain... is truly full of treasures. I wonder which great benefactor left such an opportunity here."

Without lingering, his figure transformed into a blue rainbow, shooting out from the gap in the cave and disappearing into the dark, demonic mountain range outside.